


just stopped believing in happy endings

by chahakyn



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Magnus Archives Fusion, Archival Assistant!Sissy, Archivist!Vanya, Avatar!Siblings, Canon Typical Content (The Magnus Archives), Distortion!Handler, F/F, Spoilers for The Magnus Archives Season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26960116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chahakyn/pseuds/chahakyn
Summary: “I know that. I’m just…” Sissy frowns, biting her lower lip. “I just wonder whether staying here would hurt less than going out there.”Vanya covers Sissy’s hand with her own, turning to kiss the inside of her palm.“It’ll hurt equally either way. Does it matter to you, as long as we’re together?”-The Archivist Vanya Hargreeves goes on a journey to hunt down her Avatar siblings in their respective Fear Domains post-Watcher's Crown.(A Magnus Archives AU)
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves, Sissy Cooper/Vanya Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves & Everyone
Comments: 16
Kudos: 90





	just stopped believing in happy endings

**Author's Note:**

> got sucked into a tma/tua crossover convo in the tuabb server that made my brain explode, so here we are!
> 
> many thanks to [ flowersalesman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersalesman/pseuds/flowersalesman), [ aloneintherain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aloneintherain/pseuds/aloneintherain), and [ curtains](http://curtainsonfire.tumblr.com/) for the biggest-brained ideas 
> 
> also big thank you to [ curtains](http://curtainsonfire.tumblr.com/)for beta'ing this and making sure everything was actually coherent ♡
> 
> fic title from [ Stray Italian Greyhound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBbVUPf6NOw) by Vienna Teng

Vanya’s always been the weakest among her siblings, and no Entity wants a weak Avatar. One by one, she watches them get picked out under her father’s watchful eye over the years as she stands by, reading statement after statement after statement until her eyes burn.

She’s just plain, useless, little Vanya.

Until one day she isn’t.

Until one day she suddenly understands what the hum of power itching beneath her fingernails means and she reads her final written statement, words choking her throat and spilling out of her mouth in a tumbling flood of power.

And as she watches the world fall apart before her eyes, the sky tearing open to reveal an enormous, unblinking eye, Vanya knows.

She’s the most powerful of them all.

\---

[The Farm]

“We should just stay here. It’s safer. And we don’t know what’s out there.” Sissy’s hand curves over Vanya’s shoulder, the smooth slide of skin almost a plea in itself. Vanya lets out a sigh as she turns over.

“I know what’s out there,” she says softly. “My siblings are out there. And the farm isn’t safe anymore.”

The floorboards under the bed shift gently, and as Vanya looks into Sissy’s eyes, she knows that Sissy has known for a long time that their safety has come at a price. Of course, everything has a price. But the currency in this landscape of fear is far heavier.

“I know that. I’m just…” Sissy frowns, biting her lower lip. “I just wonder whether staying here would hurt less than going out there.”

Vanya covers Sissy’s hand with her own, turning to kiss the inside of her palm.

“It’ll hurt equally either way. Does it matter to you, as long as we’re together?”

Sissy hums, leaning closer.

“No,” she says, breath warm against Vanya’s skin. “No, I suppose not.”

\---

[Between Domains]

“What are you going to tell your siblings? If you find them.”

“ _When_ we find them,” Vanya corrects tersely. Sissy reaches for her hand, squeezing gently. Vanya relaxes.

“I don’t know,” she murmurs, kicking a pebble and watching it bounce a few feet away. “Find Dad? Demand answers.”

Sissy hums, hoisting up Harlan on her back. He wraps his arms loosely around her shoulders, staring up at the unblinking eyes lining the sky. He seems to enjoy watching them as much as they enjoy watching him.

“Will his answers make it better?”

Vanya laughs flatly. “No. But we have to try.”

\---

Vanya stands in front of Harlan and Sissy, teeth bared as she watches the royal blue door swing open with a creak.

“You’re not wanted here,” she says lowly. The Handler shakes her head in a dizzying swirl of colors and shapes that nobody can quite piece together.

“Vanya, Vanya, Vanya, is that any way to treat a friend?”

“You aren’t my friend,” Vanya says flatly, fingers curling as she feels out the vibrations in the air. The faintest screams carried by the wind are plenty, and Vanya tugs at their energy, grip tight and posture tense. The Handler eyes her coolly. The door slams shut behind her.

\---

“You’re awfully relaxed for where you’re headed,” the Handler says, days later (if you can call it days, time doesn’t function as it’s supposed to). Vanya scowls.

“I know where I’m going.”

The Handler inclines her head. “That you do. But you don’t know what you’re _doing_.”

“That’s my problem, isn’t it? Not yours,” Vanya says with a hiss, fixing the Handler with an irritated stare. The Handler only shrugs before disappearing.

\---

[The Hunt]

“Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” Sissy says without hesitation, searching Vanya’s face for an explanation. A howl echoes in the distance, and Harlan shrinks closer into Sissy’s side, looking up at Vanya with wide eyes.

\---

The Beholding had instilled in Vanya the knowledge of every fear domain; its structure, function, and desire. It’s more than she ever wanted to know about how this new world works. And yet, being in the middle of the Hunt’s domain, walking around and feeling the Eye’s shiver of excitement as she drinks it all in, somehow makes it all even worse.

Vanya can taste Sissy and Harlan’s fear and the fear of millions of others on her tongue and it makes her _sick_.

She did this. She needs to _fix_ this. She owes that much to the world she grew up in, even if it was far from kind to her.

\---

“Who are you,” a voice growls, and a figure bursts from the tree, moving wickedly fast towards them. His eyes gleam and he looks _hungry_. His knife sinks into Vanya’s shoulder and she screams, gasping for air as she slams her fists against his chest.

“Diego, please, it’s Vanya. Your _sister_ ,” she gasps out, fingers trembling as she desperately cups his gaunt face, slick with blood, and full of teeth just a little too sharp to be human. He stops, eerily still, before tilting his head; recognition blooms in his gaze behind the wild look in his eyes.

“Get away from her.”

Vanya and Diego’s head both swivel up to see the muzzle of a shotgun staring down at them. Sissy stands behind it, gaze and grip unwavering.

“That shit can’t hurt me,” Diego barks out with a laugh, making a move to rise. Sissy steps closer, the cold metal pressing against Diego’s forehead.

“I don’t give a flying damn. Step away from my Archivist _now_.”

\---

[Between Domains]

“Dunno what came over me,” Diego mutters as they trudge onwards, carefully skirting a domain of the Slaughter.

“You know exactly what came over you,” Vanya says quietly, hands shoved into her pockets.

“You did all this, didn’t you?”

Vanya’s eyes flash. “I did. And I’m going to _fix_ it.”

\---

“Where are we g—"

“To find Ben,” Vanya interrupts, eyes trained on the ground. Diego’s eyes narrow as he turns to glance at Sissy, jerking his thumb at Vanya.

“Is she always like this now?”

Sissy shrugs warily. “Archivists.”

Diego snorts. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

\---

[The Dark]

The dark streets of this suburb strike more fear into Vanya’s heart than any suburb reasonably should. But it’s really the children’s screams coming from each house that make her hair stand on end.

“Christ,” Sissy whispers, kneeling down and gathering Harlan up in her arms. He clings to her, face buried in her shoulder as his hands tremble.

“This is fucked,” Diego says quietly. Vanya sighs.

“What did you expect?”

\---

Diego’s hand shakes as he extends it to Ben. Ben, their dead brother, now standing in the doorway looking no older than the day he died. Ben, the sibling whose death tore the family apart. Ben, the kindest and wisest of them all, eyes wide as he looks up at them, taking Diego’s hand in his.

“Come with us. To find Dad,” Diego says, voice soft and gaze even softer.

“He can’t,” Vanya murmurs. “He won’t be able to exist outside of this domain.”

Diego slams his fist against the wall. Ben doesn’t flinch, but Vanya can feel his frustration, his sorrow at being unable to play the role in his siblings’ lives that he wants so badly to have.

“I can’t go with you,” Ben says, voice hollow with regret. “But I can still help you.”

\---

Sissy stares in the direction of the house until she can’t see Harlan waving anymore. They trudge on, Ben’s word’s echoing in their ears.

 _I promise, I will protect Harlan. I_ swear _it._

“You made the right choice,” Vanya murmurs, grip tightening around Sissy’s hand.

\---

[The End]

“My favorite people in the whole wide world!” Klaus declares, swaggering over to them and enveloping Vanya and Diego in a tight hug. Vanya can see the pain in his eyes, feel it in his heart as he pinches Diego’s cheeks enthusiastically.

She Knows how he’s feeling, trapped in a domain with a power he never wanted. Surrounded by the dead, always too aware of who’s alive, who’s about to die, and who’s dead. Too much knowledge for a singular soul to bear.

Vanya Knows how that feels. She _knows_ how that feels.

“Do you want to help us find Dad?”

Klaus tips his sunglasses low on the bridge of his nose and shoots them a winning smile.

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

\---

“We saw Ben, before we found you. He’s—”

“I know,” Klaus says with a sad smile. “I’ve always known.”

\---

[The Web]

“Is this a joke?” Diego glances up at the building before them, more well-kept than any they’ve come across so far. “A trap?”

“Depends. What are your thoughts on theater?” Vanya asks, lip twitching up as she holds the door open.

\---

It’s surprising, seeing Allison on stage again. But it also isn’t. She directs bodies with a flick of her finger and well-placed rumor. This is her world and she’s made herself the star.

\---

“I was wondering when you’d come,” Allison says with a smile. “I’ll admit that I was a little worried that my efforts to encourage you here were too…subtle.”

“You had a hand in us coming together?” Klaus asks, eyes wide.

“Of course. Why did you feel the need to take the path you did? Visit the Dark? Why did Ben take Harlan?”

“You rumored us, like one of your puppets,” Diego growls, stepping forward.

“No, I’d _never_ do that. Not again.” Allison shakes her head, giving Vanya a regretful look. “I just…tugged some strings here and there. Nudged where appropriate.”

Diego’s eyes narrow. “You’re a manipulative monster.”

“And you’re better than me? So focused on the chase, on the kill?” Allison gives him a dangerous smile, more teeth than kindness.

“It’s different,” Diego hisses, eyes flashing as Vanya shakes her head.

“It really isn’t.”

\---

[Between Domains]

“You may be monsters,” Sissy says carefully, as they trudge forward, “but you’re here, coming together despite your differences and your allegiances. That has to mean something, right?”

“I don’t know if it really does,” Vanya says quietly. She startles as she feels an arm sling around her shoulders, stopping her in her tracks.

“Well, I don’t care if we’re all monsters! All I know is that I love you and have missed you guys very much,” Klaus declares firmly, pulling them all together in a cramped embrace.

“Dude, don’t hug me like that, it tickles,” Diego hisses, batting at Klaus’s arm. Vanya closes her eyes, curling closer in Klaus’s grip.

\---

[The Stranger]

“Is…is that Mom?” Allison says faintly. Vanya nods without looking up, steeling herself against the knowledge the Beholding gifts her, the knowledge that their robot mother exists happily in The Stranger’s domain.

Grace hums to herself as she picks through tools, fingers lightly drawing over a scalpel, pick, pliers. Her hands are covered in blood, but her dress is pristine. She would look like a friendly nurse, if it weren’t for the unsettling twist of her smile across her beautiful face—

“You have to _do_ something,” Diego hisses, snapping Vanya out of her reverie as he grips her arms tight. She shudders, looking up at him helplessly. 

“What could I possibly do? She stopped being our Mom the moment The Stranger took her from us.”

Diego shakes his head vehemently. “You have to help her—”

“Diego, I can’t save her. Look at her, she’s in too deep.”

“But you can kill her, can’t you?” Klaus says soberly, brows furrowed as he looks at Vanya. “Put her out of her misery.”

\---

Vanya shakes as the swirling energy around her dissipates and she feels the restless buzz under her skin fade.

Her siblings are staring and, as irrational as it is, Vanya feels self-conscious of her pale skin, the glowing white irises of her eyes, the dozens of gleaming eyes surrounding her head, blinking in tandem as they look about curiously.

She shouldn’t feel shy. She’s _powerful_.

But the look Diego and Allison are giving her makes her feel small again. Insignificant.

“Did it hurt her?” Diego asks.

“It always does,” Vanya says morosely, steadying herself as she feels her feet touch the ground. “There’s nothing in this world that doesn’t hurt anymore. You can’t win.”

Sissy reaches out. “Vanya—”

Vanya shakes her head, turning away. “Let’s move on.”

\---

[The Flesh]

“Is that a rib?” Allison says unsteadily, eyes glued to the plants that neatly line the walkway. They twist and groan and quiver, a captivating jumble of human attributes coaxed into the idea of flora and fauna.

They’re beautiful, in a horrible, breathtaking way. But Vanya keeps that to herself.

“Welcome to the Mortal Garden,” she says instead.

\---

“Why do we need to leave?”

“Sorry, what?” Klaus says, blinking. Luther towers over them all, face twisted into a frown as he regards them with confusion

“Why do we need to leave?” Luther repeats, tossing his shears from hand to hand. “These domains, they’re made for people like us. Why would you ever want to leave?”

“Because it’s not right,” Vanya says softly. “This isn’t how the world is supposed to be.”

“Don’t we deserve that?” Luther’s fingers curl around the shears. The twisted human blooms around them cower shakily. “30 years of not fitting in, of having to squeeze into boxes to keep from offending people. You want to go back to that?”

“No,” Allison says. “But the way Dad treated us growing up…That’s what we’re treating the world like now. And I don’t,” she stammers, reaching out and grasping Luther’s hand in a panic, “I don’t think that’s the kind of people we should be. The kind of people we _are_.”

Luther’s face falls. “I’m sorry. Maybe we just aren’t the same kind of people.”

\---

[Between Domains]

Days later (but again, time doesn’t function the way it should), Luther manages to catch up to them, lumbering to their side.

“I can’t let you face Dad without your Number One. We need to stick together,” he huffs.

“No,” Diego says. “No more numbers. Numbers don’t matter.”

“We’re a family and we want _you_ with us, Luther. No matter what number Dad gave you.” Allison reaches out, his hand dwarfing hers as their fingers tangle. “Do you want this too?”

Luther gives them all a look before his shoulders sag.

“Yes. For you all. _With_ you all.”

\---

“Really Diego? Team Zero?”

“Yes, Team _Zero_.”

\---

[The Buried]

The unyielding press of dirt around them in the tunnels makes bile rise in Vanya’s throat. It’s too much, too similar to how they were treated growing up, tossed into artefacts of the Buried with only a rope to keep them from falling.

Training, Dad had called it.

Abuse, Sissy says with a glint of fury in her eyes.

\---

“I can offer you a way out of here. A shortcut,” The Handler says silkily, nodding at her door. The offer is tempting. Vanya shakes her head.

“ _No_.”

Klaus reaches out, fingers trembling as he touches Vanya’s shoulder. “Vanya, please—"

“ _No_.” The energy in the tunnel intensifies, vibrations humming menacingly in the limited air. “Don’t think I’m going to get complacent. I _Know_ what you are,” Vanya hisses, jabbing her finger at the Handler. The Handler only smiles.

“If you know what I am, then what does that make you?”

\---

[The Lonely]

“I’m going to go in to get Five,” Vanya says, shrugging off her backpack. It lands heavily in the sand.

Sissy sucks in a breath. “Vanya—”

“It’s okay,” Vanya says soothingly, gathering Sissy’s hands between hers. “It’s alright, I’ve done this before, I’ve come out of the Lonely without the help of the Eye. And now I Know where he is, I Know where you are. It won’t be as bad, I swear.”

“Please. Be careful,” Sissy murmurs, a tear rolling down her cheek. Vanya reaches up, smoothing her lips against the damp skin of her cheek.

“I will be. I swear.”

\---

“Five?” Vanya calls out. The ocean waves nearly drown her voice out, carrying her voice far and out to sea.

“You’re here.”

Vanya whips around, only to be met by endless fog.

“Yes, I’m here Five. I’ve found you.”

“No, you haven’t.” His voice echoes oddly, a faint, wispy copy of his voice tailing helplessly behind as he speaks. And he sounds tired. So, _so_ incredibly tired.

“Five—”

“Why are you here, Vanya?” His voice hardens slightly, sharp enough that Vanya winces instinctively. The frigid air rushes in eagerly, crowding against Vanya’s skin.

“To bring you back,” she says, batting the fog away impatiently. “We’ve all found each other, our family’s come back together and we _need_ you with us.”

“No, you don’t.” The cold ocean breeze carries his exhausted sigh out to sea before Vanya even has the chance to register it. “You made it this far. That’s enough proof that you don’t need me at all.”

“That’s not—"

“Vanya. You Know the truth, don’t you?” He says softly. “You Know that you can go on without me.”

“Five…” Vanya murmurs, fingers trembling as she curls them into fists. She’s so cold, so, so _cold_. Five chuckles quietly, all humor drained away.

“I really loved you all, you know?”

“Five, wait—”

But he’s gone. She can feel it, she Knows it. The Lonely has swallowed him up again, taken what they think is rightfully theirs.

“God _dammit_ , Five,” Vanya shouts into the cold air, sinking to her knees. The sand cushions her fall, and she can feel the cold ocean water soaking the knees of her jeans. A tear rolls slowly down her cheek.

\---

No, he’s not gone. Not yet. Vanya is _far_ from finished.

\---

“Five Hargreeves,” she calls out, hands digging into her thighs. “When you disappeared, all of us felt it. We cried for you, hoped for your return, left your favorite sandwiches out and left the lights on every night for you.” She sucks in an unsteady breath.

“And every night you didn’t come back it felt like you were taking a piece of our hearts away. It’s been 17 years and that hasn’t changed one bit.”

“And you know what?” Vanya tilts her head up, staring at the sky defiantly. “You’re wrong. For once in your life, you’re absolutely, blatantly, _stupidly_ wrong. We came all this way for you because we know we can go on without you, but we don’t _want_ to Five.”

“We’ve been stuck with these entities for all our lives, being told where to go to and what to do to feed them. But now, we’re choosing what we _want_ to do. Don’t you want things, Five?” Vanya asks quietly.

“I don’t…know.”

Vanya takes a shaky breath. “I…I want things all the time. I want something right now, in fact. I want you to **tell me what you _see_**.”

She stops, hoping, and wishing and _praying_ that she’s reached Five, that he’s there enough to hear her, to answer her—

“I see…I see _you_ , Vanya.”

Vanya turns to look over her shoulder and there he is. Her brother Five, fists clenched at his side as he looks right back at her, tears streaming down his face.

“I _see_ you,” he says breathlessly.

\---

[Between Domains]

“Allison, please stop hovering,” Five says, swatting good-naturedly at her hand. “With how you’re watching me, it feels like you decided to serve the Ceaseless Watcher while I was away.”

Allison recoils, shuddering. “Ew no, that’s Vanya’s domain.”

Five hums. “So,” he says, turning to look up at Vanya with a familiar glint in his eye. “You have powers, you started the apocalypse, and you brought us back together.”

Vanya’s lip quirks. “That’s about right.”

“So? What are we waiting for?” He looks around as his siblings, holding out his hand as he grins at them, a touch unhinged. “Let’s go find Dad.”

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [ tumblr](https://shizuoi.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat!


End file.
